He Asked you What?
by ArodessIncarnet
Summary: Arthur has been pondering this question for quite some time, and now it's time to ask.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: hi there. *nervously shuffles back* I hope you like this, I'm not great at one shots. I do have a few ideas on what could happen next… I guess, let me know if you like it and want more.

Please review! I love seeing other people's thoughts on my work! *hides face* please?

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, would any of us be here if we did?

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"So you're really going to ask him to do this?"

"Yes."

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

"He's late…"

"Yes, no suprise there." Arthur mumbled the last bit. Gwen chewed her lip nervously as they waited for the king's servant to show up with breakfast. They were both dressed, sitting on the bed, the queen was rubbing her husbands hand, his brow furrowed in thought.

"Breakfast!" Merlin pushed the door open with his foot, balancing two trays of food in his hands. His red neckerchief hung loosely under his brown jacket but over his blue shirt. He spun on his heel to face the bed, his morning grin shifting to a look of confusion as he saw the two there. Awake and dressed, both staring at him. "You're both up." He stated bluntly.

"Yes." Arthur said, confirming the obvious.

"Why?" Merlin's eyebrow arched, subconsciously mimicking his mentor.

"Sit down, Arthur has something he wants to discuss with you. I'm for it, personally, but it is a difficult topic for him. Please just listen." Gwen looked up from her husband to meet Merlin's concerned blue eyes. Unable to resist a request from his queen, Merlin set the trays on the table and turned a chair to face the bed before sitting down.

"Merlin, any and all of what is said in this room today is confidential, and I will deny ever having spoken of it with every fiber of my being. Do you understand?" The blond leaned back, running a hand through his hair.

"Yes, I understand." The warlock's eyes narrowed, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I've known you for years now Merlin. I trust you, I don't believe you would ever betray me. I consider you a close friend and I do value your opinions on things, when you take it seriously. I'm sure you know how much Morgana's threat is stressing me, how many sorcerers will she command? When will she strike? Where? But most importantly, how will we stop her?" Arthur paused, looking up from the fraying edge of his night shirt that had become so intriguing. "Merlin, it's because I trust you, that I wanted to ask you," Merlin was watching the prince intently, waiting for his next words. "would you learn magic," he paused, "and protect Camelot with it?"

Merlin's face blanched and jaw dropped at those words.

"I know that it's asking a lot of you. But, if you succeed, then you may actually be useful." Arthur snickered.

The warlock's mind was reeling, should he tell Arthur the truth? Should he stay hidden? Should he pretend he was just naturally gifted? His mouth opened and shut repeatedly as he floundered for words. "I don't- Arthur how- why should- WHAT?!" He finally surmised.

"You can have the day to mull it over, I want your answer by tonight. I will not blame you for saying no, magic is a dark art after all." The king's voice dropped. "The day is yours to think Merlin, don't hurt yourself." Arthur pushed himself off the bed, Gwen smiling behind him. Merlin silently pushed himself off the chair, and left the room.

* * *

"You're back early." Gaius looked over his shoulder to see his ward shutting the door, then turning to lean on it. The old physician eyed his sweaty brow, paler than normal skin, and out of breath appearance. "What happened Merlin?"

"Arthur…" Merlin paused for what seemed like ages, "just asked me if I would learn magic to protect Camelot. He gave me the day off to think it over." Merlin quirked a brow and looked over to Gaius, who stood still and slack jawed.

"Well then, expose your lesser spells, pretend to struggle with them. And slowly raise the level of what you do." Gaius concluded after a moment.

"Gaius. You don't get it, Arthur, king prat of the pratlets, just asked me to learn magic. Perhaps he's not completely opposed to it after all." The warlock broke out into a grin and ran up to his room to retrieve his book.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello, as I said in the last post, this was meant to be a one shot, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to write more on it. However, I don't want to be the only one. If you're interested, use the first part of chapter one (between Merlin, Arthur, and Gwen) as a prompt for your own story. If you decide to, shoot me a PM telling me you did, I would love to create a community for this. Feel free to copy paste that first portion into your story(if you do please do not change its contents without asking me, chances are I won't mind), summarize it, or reference it in an author's note. I think this will be a fun little thing to do.

Alright *face buried in pillow* let's jump in to my take on this situation. *jumps into pile of pillows, muffled voice:* please review! Thank you~!

Disclaimer: look at the name of the website...

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The onyx haired warlock flipped through his book without touching the pages when suddenly he stopped. "Should probably give him my answer…" he stood, snapping the book shut as he did so. The trek to Arthur's chambers seemed to go by in a second. Merlin's excitement was no secret but rather a cause for curiosity for everyone he flew by. Gawain called out as he passed, but the young warlock was already around the corner. Merlin pushed his way through the heavy wooden door of the royal chambers, the couple nowhere to be seen. He turned on his heel to search for them but paused, looking over his shoulder at the mess of a room. "May as well tidy up…" he sighed.

Soon the clothes on the floor were in a basket, the clean clothes that were in the basket were put away, the sword Arthur had left in the room had been sharpened, the armour was polished and set aside, the bed was made and the sheets were tucked, the mirror was clean, the fireplace swept out, and Merlin sat at the table, rolling an apple from the fruit bowl between his hands as he waited. It had been hours. The young man's eyes shot up to the door when he herd the farmiliar voice of a blond prat.

"I cannot believe Sir Regulus would recommend a southern assault on Cendread's forces. The ignorance-" Arthur pushed the door open as he spoke, then stopped mid thought at the sight of his manservent at the table. Leon stopped abruptly behind him. "Leon, you're dismissed." Arthur said formally.

"Sire." Leon bowed his head, turned, and walked briskly away.

Arthur shut the heavy door, never dropping Merlin's gaze. "Have you an answer for me?"

"Yes."

"Yes you have an answer or…?"

"Yes. Well, yes I have an answer, but the answer is yes." Merlin stumbled over his words.

"Alright," Arthur pulled out the chair across from his servant and took a seat, "you understand, this must be done in secret and if you are discovered I will be forced to treat you like any other sorcerer." The king gave him a downcast look.

"I understand." Merlin nodded and paused, "Do you mind, if I practice with little things? Like, polishing your armor, lighting the fire, small things like that?"

The blond thought a moment, "I suppose so long as you don't get caught, I don't mind." He stood, "Come. I have something to show you."

Merlin stood and followed the king out of the room silently. The two made their way through the winding corridors of the castle. The warm afternoon light spilling through the windows, casting shadows on the wall as the tall men made their way. A while of walking resulted in the appearance of the large, embroidered doors of the library. Inside Arthur greeted Geoffrey, and continued down the long aisleways of books. Finally they came to a halt in front of one bookcase, Merlin recognized it, it was the hidden door he had stumbled upon before releasing the goblin.

"Merlin, what I am about to show you needs to be kept a secret as well. Understand?'

The warlock nodded. Arthur turned back to the shelf, reached up and pulled a book slightly out of place. The device groaned under the weight of two men as it turned. When they stopped moving Arthur stepped into the dusty, cobwebbed room.

"Everything that you see in this room," he turned to look at his servant, "is magic related in some way or another. Books, tomes, scrolls, textiles, everything gathered over years and years of king's ruling with the aid of sorcerers. Until my father took over." His gaze began to wander over the numerous things in the room. "This place is yours to study, use, clean, really whatever you want." He paused, "Maybe not WHATEVER you want, but you get what I mean."

They both stood in silence a moment before Merlin spoke up. "How did you find this place?"

"When I was a child, Geoffrey opened it without noticing me behind him. He explained to me what it was and that if it stayed hidden no one would be able to use it for evil. Then… I forgot about it." He turned back to Merlin, who was now standing next to him. "Merlin," he spoke softly, "please do not betray me with this." With that he pulled the book again, spinning out of sight, leaving the warlock alone in his new center of resources.

Merlin spent the rest of the day flipping through texts and spells, completely absorbed in his new collection. Before he realized it the midnight bell tolled. He cursed to himself and rushed back to Gaius's chambers. The elderly man was asleep, his ward smirked as he silently made his way passed. A bowl of fruit and a few pieces of bread on the table caught his eye. He looked at them a moment, trying to remember if he had eaten anything for lunch. He shook his head, Gaius always scolded him for forgetting to eat, but it wasn't the first time and it probably wouldn't be the last. He sat down to eat, going through what he remembered from what he read. Eventually he finished and silently made his way up to his room, before collapsing onto his bed.

* * *

"Up up! You're going to be late Merlin." The rickety voice of his mentor accompanied by the light spilling from his open window dragged the young man from his sleep. He grumbled a response before wearily pulling himself out of bed. Merlin stumbled down the stairs, still rubbing the sleep from his face and paying his gnarled mess of hair no mind. "You look like hell warmed over." Gaius observed his assistant's delirious behavior and sluggish responses.

"Yeah, was up until midnight reading through a bunch of new spell books Arthur gave me."

"Who gave you what?" The physician did a double take.

"Arthur… is apparently more aware of the magic in his castle than I gave him credit for." Merlin finished with a yawn. "I'm going to be late." Merlin realized with a sudden moment of clarity.

* * *

The room was cold and dark, the ever looming sense of dread that settled like a dense fog over the room. The two guards that stood stoic at the door remained unmoving as the shivering man in a cloak entered the foreboding room.

"And you are?" A cold voice rang out.

"A- a messenger from Dagen. He- he's found the stone my lady." The cloaked man stuttered. The darkness before him shifted, churning with what he could only assume to be rage or excitement. Columns of fire erupted on either side of the now visible throne. A woman with gnarled hair sat in the center, a white, skull like, head with beady blue eyes watched the man intently from behind the enthroned woman.

"Where."

"S-south of the valley of the fallen kings m'lady." He knelt before her and helped out a rolled piece of parchment in his shaky hands. The light piece of paper was gone a moment later.

"You're dismissed. Aithusa… dinner."

The man looked up in time to see the snarling skeletal creature approaching him. The guards at the door shut there eyes at the screaming and ripping of flesh, it was all they could do not to flinch. If they did, they knew the same fate awaited them as well.


	3. Chapter 3

The queen awoke at the sound of the door opening. Quick and quiet footsteps traveled across the dark room, she sat up and smiled as she stretched. The curtains were thrown open a moment later. "Good mourning Merlin." The curly haired woman greeted the servant before he could turn around.

"Good morning Gwen!" He turned around with a toothy grin. He enjoyed the fact that she had insisted their relationship stay the same as it had before, so long as they were in private.

"Arthur told me you agreed to learn magic for him."

"Yes. And I wanted to ask him if I could ask Gaius to teach me. Seeing as he has practiced magic before. Just a thought." He shrugged and went to set up the trays of food he had brought in.

The queen made a face. "You can certainly ask. I can't say." She shook her head and turned to her husband. "Common sleepy head, time to get up." She ran her fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp lightly.

The king's features scrunched and one eye opened slowly, meeting the gaze of his wife. He shut it again and a grin spread over his face as he threw an arm around her waist and dragged her back down onto the bed with him. "I am not getting up until that idiot Merlin comes up to do his job." He muttered into her hair.

"He is doing his job." She snickered.

"Yeah, just that when I wake you you throw a goblet at me." The raven haired warlock quipped from across the room.

"Merlin!" Arthur sat up in a heartbeat, grabbing the goblet off the nightstand. He pulled his arm back but didn't throw it. After looking at it a moment he dropped it on the bed and took the comb from the stand and hurled it.

Merlin's grin dropped from his face, he took a step back, "Acien." His eyes flared gold and the comb veered, hit the wall, and clatter to the floor. "It worked! Ha!" Merlin tried to act astonished. He looked back at the king, smiling like a child that had caught his first frog in the local pond.

Arthur and Gwen sat on the bed slack jawed. The warlocks smile slowly faded as the silence and tension was sustained. A knock at the door made the three friends jump and shift their attention.

"Enter." Arthur commanded, grateful that his voice was not as shaky as he felt.

A servant pushed the door open, his head bowed. "Sire, sir Leon sent me to inform you of a scout that arrived from our western border."

"I will be at the round table shortly then, you are dismissed." The blond waved his hand, the servant bowed and took his leave, shutting the door tightly behind him.

"Well… you picked that up quickly." Gwen sighed, and stood up from the bed, brushing the wrinkles out of her night dress. Merlin promptly looked to the floor. "Maybe the joke about your talents lying with magic, shouldn't be considered a joke any more."

"How do you mean?" The king looked up at his queen.

"I mean, most people have a talent. You, are particularly good with a sword."

"Is that all I'm good with?" The king smirked. Merlin made a noise similar to choking.

Gwen shot him a look as she pushed dresses about in the wardrobe. "What I am saying is that if you looked at any of those books you gave him, you most likely wouldn't be able to tell up from down. But Merlin, we know he can't use a sword," she picked a dress and moved behind the screen. "according to you he's a terrible servant, and can't do much. So what's his talent? Given a chance, it may be magic."

Arthur looked up at a very pale warlock. "Now that I think about it, your funny feelings are usually correct and AND you tend to recognize sacred places. Caves. Wells. 'Vibrating with life' if I remember correctly."

Merlin felt a cold sweat on the back of his neck. "Maybe. I- I don't know…"

Arthur was about to speak when Gwen spoke up again. "Merlin I'm sure it's no different than those who are gifted with a sword. Don't let it scare you just because it's magic, the knights aren't scared to take up a sword to protect Camelot. Why should magic be different?"

"Because magic is well known for its evil, Guinevere, it killed my mother, it killed my father, many good and trustworthy knights, not to mention the innocent lives it has taken. Now my servant, of all people can use it." Arthur pressed his middle finger to one temple and his thumb to the other.

"I won't let it take me over, Arthur." Merlin hoped using his name in place of his title would get his attention. It worked, the king's eyes met his. "Arthur you know me, I'm not pompous, arrogant, or condescending. Least, I don't think I've been. Please Arthur, let me do this for you, for Camelot." He pleaded.

The king nodded silently. "Enough depressing talk. Merlin, help me prepare to go meet the scout." He stood, facade of the stoic king back in place. Merlin offered a small smile and nodded, Gwen stepped out from behind the screen and moved to the mirror.

* * *

"My lord." The scout greeted the king as he entered the room of the Round Table. His queen at his left and his servant as his right flank.

"You may speak." The king ordered.

"Thank you Sire. Sir Gravlin and his party have spotted Morgana's forces on the move. However, they were not moving in the direction of our border mi'lord. Rather, alongside it."

The king's brow twitched. "Your report is welcome. Is there anything else?"

"No Sire, that is all."

"You are dismissed then. Merlin, call all knights present in Camelot to meeting. Now. King's decree."

"Yes Sire." Merlin bowed slightly before spinning on his heel and following the scout out of the room.

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A/N: ok. I'm visiting family, and I'm working on this chapter. My aunts are watching some random Netflix original and I'm not really paying attention. Then I look up and see Balinor in a suit on the phone, and Merlin in a hospital room with a busted arm. Very, very hard to focus on the FanFic here.

Any way, thank you to all of you who review and follow, it's a big confidence boost for me. So thank you thank you THANK YOUUU! *remains unseen from beneath a mountain of pillows*


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